Shahryar Khattak – Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010-2012

Shahryar Khattak received his PhD from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany. Before joining the Ellis lab, he studied cell lineage specification during limb and spinal cord regeneration using axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) as a model organism. He developed the first tissue-specific transgenic axolotls and established inducible Cre/LoxP and virus-mediated gene delivery in axolotls.

Khattak’s work in the Ellis lab involved studying autism and schizophrenia using patient-specific iPS cells through the development of neural subtype reporters to label specific neurons related to these diseases using viral vectors. He was also interested in studying human spinal cord regeneration with iPS cells.

Khattak lived all over the world and was the most international resident in the Ellis lab. He came to Toronto to make reporters and study spinal cord regeneration, but his true mission was to find the perfect, juicy Canadian steak!

Next Position

Scientist at Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine

Selected Publications

Kinnear C, WY Chang, S Khattak, A Hinek, T Thompson, DC Rodrigues, K Kennedy, N Mahmut, P Pasceri, WL Stanford, J Ellis* and S Mital*. (2013) Modeling and rescue of the vascular phenotype of Williams-Beuren syndrome in patient induced-pluripotent stem cells. *Equal corresponding authors. Stem Cells Translational Medicine. 2:2-15.

Khattak S, Richter T, Tanaka EM. (2009) Generation of Transgenic Axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum). CSH Protocols doi:10.1101/pdb.prot5264

Khattak S, Tanaka EM. (2009) Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) In Vitro Fertilization. CSH Protocols doi:10.1101/pdb.prot5263

Kragl M*, Knapp D*, Nacu E, Khattak S, Maden M, Epperlein HH, Tanaka EM. (2009) Cells keep a memory of their tissue origin during limb regeneration. *Equal first authors. Nature. 460: 60-65.

Kragl M, Knapp D, Nacu E, Khattak S, Schnapp E, Epperlein HH, and Tanaka EM. (2008) Novel Insights into the Flexibility of Cell and Positional Identity during Urodele Limb regeneration. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitive Biology, Volume LXXIII. 73:583-92.

Khattak S, Darai G, Rösen-Wolff A. (2004) Puumala virus nucleocapsid protein expressed in transgenic plants is not immunogenic after oral administration. Virus Genes. 29(1):109-16.

Khattak S, Darai G, Süle S, Rösen-Wolff A. (2002) Characterization of expression of Puumala nucleocapsid protein in transgenic plants. Intervirology. 45: 334-339.

Khattak S, Lee BR, Cho SH, Ahnn J, Spoerel NA. (2002) Genetic characterization of Drosophila Mi-2 ATPase. Gene. 293: 107-14.

Khattak S, Im H, Park T, Ahnn J, Spoerel NA. (2002) dELL, a drosophila homologue of transcription elongation factor ELL (Eleven-nineteen Lysine rich Leukemia), is required for early development. Cell Biochemistry and Function. 20: 119-27.